This was a pretty solid chapter!

I was a bit surprised by Wildbow’s decision to partially eschew the Unspoken Plan Guarantee, but what was left of it still allowed things to go well. And hey, complication at the end, as expected, though I didn’t think the end would be after the ambush.

My remaining predictions came true too: Reluctance to kill came into play (though Ballistic’s turned out more troublesome than Sundancer’s, and may have been a blessing in disguise) and we’re still shooting for the shogi plan. I’m very pleased with that last thing, though Cherish may have made that difficult.

We still don’t know where Imp is or what she’s doing, but we have learned that she was supposed to “help [Cherish] get back at the Nine” and that Imp did respond to Cherish in a way that Cherish could hear. Cherish implied that it would be surprising for Imp to have found a way to get this information back to the rest of the Undertravelers, though, which might mean bad things if she wasn’t just implying that to increase her bargaining power.

Next chapter, the Undertravelers are going to need to figure out how to circumvent the fact that the Nine know about Regent’s power and also how to get Grue out of the living hell that is being captured by a team that includes Bonesaw and five other sadistic pieces of shit. I feel like the answers to both things may lie in the words “as soon as possible”.

We might also learn more from Cherish about Imp’s fate.

So yeah. See you then!

No holds barred. This is getting quite interesting.

I enjoyed this chapter quite a bit. We had a throughline of similarities, with Taylor pointing out similarities between herself and Bitch, similarities between the Travelers and similarities between the Undersiders and the Nine, and each part was quite good.

The part with Bitch was definitely the highlight, though. Instead of focusing on locating her and getting her out of some sort of trouble, we got a really good interaction between Taylor and Rachel, in which they both opened up with each other more than ever before, for better and worse. I think they came out of it with some positive development of their relationship, and while there is still a long way to go, I stand by what I said at one point during the scene: This is one of the most important interactions for the development of their relationship so far.

I think it’s fairly likely now that the Travelers’ shared backstory and their overall high power levels have something to do with Cauldron. Yes, it’s possible they all triggered young, possibly together, but this chapter strongly hinted that that’s not the right track.

And finally, there’s the meeting. Taylor may need to work on how she introduces pitches like this, but it ultimately worked out. The no holds barred tactic seemed to get approval, with less reluctance than I’d honestly expect. And apparently she wants to blow the Nine the fuck up? I can’t blame her.

Sundancer’s reluctance to kill may prove troublesome later, we’ll have to see. A fair bit of time was devoted to establishing that, so I doubt it’s entirely irrelevant.

Next chapter, well… it’s time to attack. We’re not going to learn the plan until we’re seeing it in action, so I think it will for the most part work out, though complications may occur in the later stages.

See you then!

> Krixwell: Review.

This was a really strong one, though more on the emotional front than the combat front I expected the chapter to focus on going in.

First we got a really good Bitch scene, where it came to light in front of Grue and Skitter how much she cares about their companionship, in spite of how Skitter still thought Bitch was considering going through with the attack Burnscar was asking for. It would be interesting to see how that would’ve gone if Skitter and Grue hadn’t gone for third and fourth options. Then we had the escape, in which Bitch totally left her teammates behind. Who knows where she’s ended up now. Perhaps Burnscar got a good hit in before Genesis showed up?

Second, Charlotte and Sierra are both really good. Keep up the excellent work, girls.

Third, Taylor’s breakdown. That was the real highlight here. The situation is really getting to her, along with all the other pressure she’s put on herself, and her reaction to that boiling over felt quite genuine. Fortunately, Grue is a good friend and was able to stop Taylor from getting herself killed immediately.

And finally, Taylor’s come up with an idea for how to deal with the Nine… potentially better, by going on the offensive. I hope this involves the shogi plan.

Hey, Jack would succeed if he tried to cut Bonesaw. What if Jack weren’t controlled by Jack at the time?

Anyway, next chapter, we’re probably going out to find out what happened to Bitch after the escape, and perhaps talking a bit more about what going on the offensive against the Nine actually entails.

See you then!

201-2164
201-2164
201-2164 

(don’t call that)

…wait… what if that’s actually what it is? Although it’s not like Mannequin can actually answer over the phone.

Anyway, this was a neat chapter. Some minor development on the Imp-Grue conflict, a skirmish with Mannequin that went super well (depending on whom you ask), and most importantly, we got some excellent development between Amy and Skitter! Just a shame Mannequin had to ruin the moment.

Next chapter, I guess it’s back north to deal with the threat Skitter believes Mannequin poses to her gang – which legitimately seems like something he’d do, but let’s not forget the Arc title. I’m sure there’ll be some form of trap sooner or later, whether it’s set up by Mannequin, Cherish or Skitter.

So yeah! See you then!

This was a fairly good planning chapter. We got implicit confirmation that Coil is still looking out for his subordinates, a mix-and-split tactic that’s going to let us get to know Genesis a bit better, a bit of conflict between Grue and Imp that I think will be interesting going forward, and a look at the growth in Skitter’s ranks!

Meanwhile, Mannequin is sneaking around Taylor’s territory, and he doesn’t have much time to waste. Taylor suspects he’ll resort to a trap, and between the title Snare and biosphere being meant to contain things, I think she’s right. Perhaps we’ll see that take shape within the next two chapters.

Next time, however, the focus may be on getting the new temporary residents of the Hive situated, possibly going on a tour of the territories, and maybe showing more of Genesis’ personality. (We saw some of that this time, though not enough that I really commented on it – she seems fairly upbeat, though, which I like.)

So yeah! See you soon for the next chapter!